An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Zodiac Circle, 15 Nightingale Square, London, SW12, on Sunday, 2nd January, 1927.
"Father of all understanding, we ask Thee, out of Thy Love, to lift Thy little children above the earth plane into those conditions which are of the Spirit. We ask, because we know it is Thy will that we should approach Thee with these requests, to pour down upon those assembled here tonight the grace to penetrate beyond the material, beyond that knowledge which is of the world, and to make their own something of that greater knowledge, something of that revelation which Thy Love expresses.
"O most tender Guide and Protector, lead Thy children out of shadowy places on to the beauty of the hillside, where they may feel that Thy ambassadors draw close, and render that aid which the individual so sorely needs; that the great wide spaces of the Spirit may be understood in something of their wonder, something of their power, something of their Love, and Thy children, refreshed and strengthened, may not only proclaim Thy wisdom but may go forth and show to those in their lives that right is stronger than wrong, that good is more powerful than evil, and that purity brings to the heart and mind a gift, a treasure, which cannot be expressed in words...
"All these things, O Father, we ask Thee, because we know that Thou dost linger ever close to the sorrowing soul, and wait to give when they can respond. With gratitude and with the desire to learn, we meet together this evening, and thank Thee for this great gift. Amen...
"...My little children, it is, as I have told you oft before, a wonderful thing to me that I can come into your physical lives and share with you not only your joys but your sorrows as well. That, as it were, in time of need, you can stretch out for the friend who has been provided by God Himself and can feel that, as a friend, an understanding friend, you can speak to me and I can speak to you...
"Children, friendship to you, and to those who are free, varies on certain points in a way in which those on earth have not considered. You prize your friends, indeed, you would exclaim that life were unbearable if friendship did not exist; but, little ones, you know but little of that wonderful tie, that spiritual tie which binds child to child, the children receiving the blessing of the Father Himself.
"But, as I said, friendship, to us, varies considerably from the aspect presented to you, and I want you to try and enter into our point of view in regard to this. You see, my little ones, when you love dearly, it is a natural longing to give to the object of your love, that which pleases, that which will call out in return greater love from them. Yes, and this presents a temptation to those who are free from the body, who, as it were, have a measure of sight but, as yet, have not purchased, have not been able to make their own, the long view which is part of the equipment of those pilgrims who have entered into wisdom, that wisdom held out to all as a gift by God Himself.
"Tonight, my children, I want to speak on that which I would name: 'The Long View'.
"But ere I pass from that which you deem friendship, I would bring to your consideration one of those aspects which are presented to us, and I ask you to ponder thereon.
"My little ones, those who are bound by the body have to take things very much on their surface value; they are restricted, they can but see what is presented to them by others. Yet, there are instincts and faculties which are at the disposal of even those who are entombed in that which seems both an encumbrance and a hindrance to understanding, and these, tonight, I want to draw out from you, for judgment and perception mean a step forward, a step nearer to the knowledge of the Spirit which leads on to that great wisdom which lies beyond...
"Children, all upon earth, and a large number who have laid the physical body aside, are influenced by the longing for love, and so it is that the enemies draw near, and so it is that very often, in order to take more love at a given time, much love is sacrificed when understanding comes. In the home, in the busy life, there are those who, you say, have a comparatively smooth and easy path. They give but little and, apparently, they are able to take that which, to you, seems great - much of love, much of advantage, much of all those possessions which would so lighten the way for you. And those of the world, judging by earth standards, they give the explanation in their own way: There is something in the individual which, to them, bears a resemblance to grace; they have that in their physical composition which is a delight to others; and those who are less endowed in this way see for themselves that love - yes, love - is drawn to such as these by no effort of will or of action on their part.
"My children, at one stage in the physical experience, each one goes through this phase, but as the spirit emerges from its bondage, so they take a longer view, and the charm and the prettiness and that curious attractive quality, no longer holds first place in their estimation. They say to themselves: 'The faithful heart for me - a faithful heart is best'.
"Little ones, when you are free and you pass unseen, unrecognised, among the children of the earth, a revelation will be your own which will stagger you by its magnitude, by its many channels of exploration, by your own blunders in the past; for think you like this: You will come back to familiar scenes amongst people that you thought you knew so well, but they will not be the same, they will be changed, for you will see what the real self represents, how far they are bound, how little they are free, how the spirit is crushed, or, again, thank God, how the spirit - in spite of every disadvantage that the world can erect - controls the mind of the body and leads the pilgrim on nearer to God, farther from earthly things, nearer to that self which one day it must represent...
"Children, in that time, that which the world calls 'grace' will appear as this: Merely as tinsel, dangerous, and hiding the rags which are beneath; for the grace of the world is so different from the grace of the spirit that the two have scarce a point in common. The grace of the spirit - ah, my children, I can take you but a step on that great subject - but the grace of the spirit is even as the violet which is hidden by that which is stronger, that which o'er-shadows the sweetness which lies beneath.
"The grace of the spirit, very often, is obliterated by the body, by that tabernacle, which, from the physical standpoint, holds little which attracts the eye. The grace of the spirit, because it is grace, depends not on the outward or the visible; but when that which represents a prison-house is no more, lo, in its exquisite loveliness so the freed soul, in its garments of Light, is there as a demonstration of God's Love and of the love within for the God who gave it Life...
"I entreat you, my children, to take a long view of this same point, for the enemies draw near and they use this and that to distract you, and to come between that true friendship of the spirit which God meant should be a help and a stay during the physical experience.
"But, my little ones, at this, to you, the commencement of another year, I want to speak in a far wider way regarding the long view as relating to your lives. I want you, in quietness and calm, to go back over the years which have passed, yet not to count your sorrows, not to think: 'Ah, that went wrong and this disappointment followed after' - but rather to call out from within yourselves something of that great knowledge of the spirit which is confined within.
"Children, the sorrows of physical life were never meant to come between the children and the Father. The sorrows of physical life are, as you know, the result of listening to those enemies of Christ over the ages which have gone... God's will was that brother should help brother, that sister should cleave to sister, and that all should work for the completion of the almighty plan; that happiness, that peace, would be too strong to be attacked by those who have passed out of the physical body into those conditions which they built up by their actions when on earth...
"The long view, dear children, tonight I must insist upon for your own dear sakes. Your sorrows, your anxieties, they could have been prevented if, ah, if the children of the Father had been closer to Him in thought and in desire. Yet, life is as it is, and so we meet together, not to condole with each other, but rather in the spirit of congratulation - congratulation that although the past has held so much which has brought pain to heart and mind, yet today, at the beginning of another year, we meet to gain that guidance which God gives so freely, to gain that guidance and the healing which it brings.
"You see, dear children, in thinking of life or of any phase of existence, that word 'temptation' comes in and cannot be ignored. You say to me: 'I did not want to hurt another; I tried to do my little best, and yet how thick have the blows fallen upon me; how soon was the sunshine of my life to fade away'. But, with sight, I answer: God knows and understands, and, more than that, He bids me remind you that sunshine and showers not only predict showers and sunshine, but each grey day only hides that brighter tomorrow, which comes inevitably in spite of all the sadness, all the unbelief, all the faintness of heart and purpose...
"The sunshine of the Spirit - yes, and the sunshine of the Spirit brings the sunshine of the earth; yet the training stages have done their part, for until the things of the world have been experienced and found as dry dust, so the individual is unwilling to search for the Bread of Life...
"My little ones, that subject of 'Temptation' is dismissed by the majority in ways which appear, to us, not only hard and cruel, but lacking even that intelligence which the denouncers might think they could claim their own. Temptation comes in a multitude of forms: To the young soul, it is the things of the world and the desires of the flesh; to the soul who has reached maturity, then it is those subtle temptations of the spirit, those things which come between God and themselves - the loneliness, the sense of isolation, the sorrow, and the weariness and the pain.
"But there are those who have not reached that stage, and yet have passed beyond the desire for the toys of the earth; and these, dear children, are in a very dangerous position to themselves. They are, as it were, emerging out of the unreal into the Real; they are fearful of this and apprehensive of that; they try to do God's will but the enemy seems to thwart them. These are surrounded by the helpers, who are endowed with power and who never fail them, although their charges may fail themselves.
"It is in connection with this that I want you to get the long view, which is the Christ view. I want you to take the circumstances of your life as they are at present, not in sorrow, not in dismay, but as practical Christians, as pilgrims on the long journey home to God. To say and to feel - though enemies attack on every side: 'I am held by Christ'.
"And think you, dear children, as to this: There are many in the world today, by reason of their circumstances and the possession of the material things of physical life, who face not their temptations but flee from them; who say within themselves: 'This is unwise' or 'that presents a trap which might engulf me', so they seek to remove themselves from the temptation at hand, and, so it seems to them, are saved.
"My children, there are thousands in this position today, particularly today, because in the heart and mind of man the spirit is at work; but I speak to them that which is Truth, and I tell them to deceive not themselves, nor to attempt to deceive the Divine within. Temptation, that is evaded; temptation which is 'overcome' by not fighting - where is the victory, where is the gain? They are 'saved', so they think, from an act of folly, but the battle has been unfought, and in that great wide condition of Spirit, it stands as valueless, for they used the circumstances of their life to bring to themselves an advantage which others could not possess...
"My little ones, the long view comes in here in a way which cannot be ignored. A battle postponed means a harder battle to be fought tomorrow; an evasion, that which comes so near to spiritual cowardice, how can this represent that salvation, which, by them, is held so dear?
"I bring you back to the masses, to the so-called common people, to those who live in conditions where purity of the body seems almost an impossibility; to those who are faced with their temptations night and day; to those who, alas, have in the very body they wear, the predisposition to fall, passed on to them by those who were weak before.
"Think of the tempted, and think of those who have the opportunity to fly from temptation, and ask yourself, with that greater sense within, how God regards such as these, how God deals with such as these, how God seeks to throw around the sore-tempted that protection which, again and again, has held and carried them through.
"That is the point, and the long view is this: Those who know right and wrong, those who, in a measure, are free, who understand that the spirit is pure, that the spirit is long-suffering - such as these are called upon by the Great Constructor not only to meet and overcome their temptations, but to pray for those whose conditions are so much worse than their own, whose temptations are ten thousand times greater, and who, struggle though they may, are never allowed to forget the temptation which lies at hand...
"Children, I speak to you, and I speak to all those who read these records, for one day you, and they, will come back to this little earth and do your best to force through the Truth to the minds of others. You who know God, you who have seen the beauty of holiness and the loveliness of pure thought and pure lives, you are not only called upon to resist temptation but you are called upon to save others less well equipped than yourselves.
"Oh, my children, words fail me to express the importance of this most sacred work for God. You are instruments, every one; you are used by those who love God or by those who seek to strike at Love Itself. You are instruments, used every minute of your daily life, used very often during your waking hours in a way far different from that which goes on while sleep claims you, when the spirit is free, and when the spirit seeks to make good that which has been lost during the hours of work or of play amongst physical things. You are used, you are influenced; and, again - forget it not - you use others and you influence them in turn...
"The long view is this, and it is the practical view, and the practical view is the spiritual view, for we deal not with artificialities or with those things which pass away. You, little ones, have a measure of sight and understanding, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are called upon not only to suffer, not only to forebear, not only to refrain from doing that which you know is 'wrong', but you are called upon to build for God, to face your temptations not to flee from them, to come to grips with self - however self may be presented to you - and, though you fail a thousand times, to fight again.
"I say - because I am instructed by the One who suffered so much, who was tempted beyond your, or my, imagination - I say that a temptation faced and fought and struggled against, even if there is not complete victory in the end, is a far greater achievement than that of fleeing from the chance of the temptation proving too strong.
"We must construct - the negative side has long since been gathered into the past. We act - we do not only think. We work - we do not only wish. And this tonight, dear children, by a Gracious Saviour, is given to you, for there is not one of you who has not suffered sorely over the experiences which the earth-life has brought in its natural course.
"The untempted, ah, my little ones, never wish that you were in that passive state when temptation comes not within your vibrations, for these are as children with all their lessons unlearnt. Yet, because you are no longer children in understanding, so you must take the courageous course. You can look back over the past and say with confidence: 'I have suffered much; perhaps I blundered here and there, but I suffered in return; and because I have suffered so God will turn it into gain; and because I have lost so God will restore; because the enemies of the physical have been merciless, so the all-generous Father holds out to me the greatest gift of all'.
"This is for you, dear children, this is for you. When you pass hence, the long view will be your own and you will marvel how limited was your vision when on earth; you will marvel that the blows went so deep, that you did not understand, that you thought God had forgotten you, and that the world itself was arraigned against you.
"You will see for the comfort of your heart and mind that Christ - even when you had ruled Him outside your life - that Christ walked with you, that there was a host of guides and helpers seeking to save you from this blunder and that. Bright ones, pure ones, ah, such loving ones, as it were, picking up the stitches which you had dropped; making, so far as you would allow, the rough places plain; removing, if the physical will was not too strong, those serious obstacles in your path.
"You will see and you will thank God that although you took a path which was a long way round, it led you home at last, home to God. Yet, forgetting not that that aspect of God - the Saviour, the Consoler, the Reconstructor - had you under His care, and would have lifted from you much had you been able to respond more freely to Him.
"Oh, my children, we fight yet we are resting on the strength of others; we struggle and yet when sight is our own, we see that only one tiny portion of the conflict was carried on by us. The world, perhaps, comes too close with some, and the mighty realms of the Spirit seem far away, but all the time the struggle goes on; and, at last, as tired children who have wandered far, seeking for this and desiring that, we turn back to the One who loves us best, and find, to our amazement, that all the time the Beloved was watching over us, seeking to guard, seeking to influence; and, moreover, that He had provided, even as an army, those who were willing to do battle for us; but we did not understand.
"That, my little ones, comes to us all when we step into revelation after the body has been laid aside; but you, dear children, in a measure, can have that revelation even during that time when, it seems to you, you are blind and you are lame - bondage of the mind and bondage of the body - yet the spirit within is free to dominate and control; the spirit within, because the desire is there to know a little more and to live a little higher and to be a little stronger, the spirit can reach out and grasp its God and the comfort can descend.
"But oh, my children, forget not that effort must come from you. We work and we labour, and we joy in our toil; and you, little ones, you must work and you must labour if the joy and the peace of the Spirit is to be your portion during the earth stage. Those who preach a negative faith, they know not that which is the Truth; those who would counsel you to rest, to concern yourself not but to wait for God's directing Hand - these are halving the power of the Holy Spirit, which is so anxious to work for you and to guide your steps.
"The only way to put into motion those wonderfully protective spiritual laws is by giving out of that which you yourself possess - work and thought and the attempt to build. And if some say: 'What if I make a mistake? What if I hinder the plans of God for my protection?' - then I answer that the protection of God is trebly strong when you are concentrating on building and constructing yourself.
"The guidance is as this, but the world in its folly has tossed it aside: To work and to strive; to leave no stone unturned to bring to yourself that help which you so sorely need. Then, because you have given out of your little, to be certain that God will give the rest.
"The way of the Spirit is upward; the way of the Spirit is that which draws from the individual, effort in its highest form. The pilgrim is asked by His Creator to do his small portion, and the Creator, because He is the Father, pours down upon the climber that power, that most precious grace which is of Himself, to complete the journey and gain the spirit's desire.
"The long view is constructing today, not leaving that which today holds for tomorrow. The long view is in the little tasks, is in the tiny constructions, is in that gathering together of the minute particles, which, in themselves, present a foundation of effort. That effort, in turn, puts into operation mighty laws of the Spirit, and, as it were, opens channels here and channels there; and through those channels, because of the effort, because the individual has tried, so, dear children, that comes which is necessary for the needs of' the body, for the needs of the mind, and for that great crying need of the spirit which is within...
"We start a new era of work. The years which have passed may have held, perhaps, work of another kind, but tonight we have taken that higher aspect of effort, that holier aspect of work for God, and we start again with renewed hope, with a stronger purpose and with a valiant heart. And because we put God first, so the protection is made complete, so the little children are gathered into security; and in that security the past is forgotten, the present holds sweet content, and the future is glorious to behold - because God comes first.
"My little ones, as time goes on, the world must be taught to take the long view, to gather not the things of today, unconscious what may be the result, unconscious of all the temptation which lies within attractive folds. The world must look beyond the present and build for the future, for I say that when you pass hence, this little life will seem to you as a second of time; and how you used your opportunities during that brief state of experience - that most valuable lesson which blindness and bondage teaches - as you used those opportunities, so the unending future will bring to you a happiness beyond expression, or a sorrow which even those who love you best will be unable to wipe away...
"Struggle and effort, work and dedication; and the glorious rays of the Love of the Most High shining upon you, filling your hearts with joy, giving vision to the mind of the body so that it is able to see, on every side more tasks to do, more joys to come. For once the spirit is in control, the children of the earth know that in effort so is the greatest happiness there is; know that in service to others so the light and the brightness of the Spirit fills the heart and mind, leaving no corner for sad thoughts or regret over the incidents of the past...
"Children, perhaps this sounds hard to some but I tell you, because the gift of sight has been made my own, that true happiness - the happiness which will last - cannot come and cannot remain without work and effort and dedication to God. It is the long view, little ones, it is the true view, it is the Christ view, and it is the view which it will be impossible to ignore when the body is discarded; for you will see then all around an activity, an exertion, and an inconceivable effort on the part of those who are free; inconceivable to you, because they have added gifts, added powers, added possibilities; and if you have not tried to put forth those big efforts on earth, so you will seem to yourself as a useless tool; useless, because in conditions of work the workers have first place.
"Before I leave you, I bring you back once more to the world's view of the pleasant people who mingle amongst the throng and draw to themselves the treasures of the earth. Many of these, dear children, will find, when they are free, that that which represented so great an asset, was indeed a temptation, was an obstacle fastened to them by those who are out to destroy... The test of love is work. The test of love between the child and the Father is: How much will the child do for the Father? The test between you and those whom you love is: How much will you give up? How much will they give up? And in the answer, so you can see just that stage which the love has reached or has failed to attain.
"The Father gives to us in a way so lavish that you could not understand. In return, He asks from us our love. Why? Why, dear children, because in giving our love to Him, He can treble our gifts and treble them again. He asks from us so that we may be more responsive to that which He longs to bestow, and He entreats us to climb and not to rest, to struggle and not to evade, to work and not only to think, to serve and not only to take service; because He knows that each act, each deed, brings to the individual joy in the first place, peace in the second place, and love in the third; and that love means power, that love, because it is God's Love, means that which the spirit has striven for, suffered for, and prayed for, over the ages which have passed.
"It means the attainment, the completion, the perfection, the linking up of the holiness within you with the great and Holy Father; it means, my little ones, that your thoughts, your hopes, your aspirations, are akin to God's. Ponder on it - that you, and I, in time to come, will think as the Father, want those things which the Father wants, work in the way the Father works, and strive in the way the Father strives; yet the Father is the Father and the children are the children.
"My little ones, I want you, tonight, to have perfect confidence in God, to realise that provision has been made on all sides, and that strength will be forthcoming if the need arises...
"To my little secretary (Dorrie - note-taker), I say but one word: In the by and by, with a gratitude which is beyond your comprehension now, you will kneel at the Saviour's Feet and thank Him for the pencil and the paper, for the weariness and the strain; and all who have entered into this great work for God shall likewise give out of thanks to Him for the opportunity placed within their hands... And now I go..."
(After others had spoken, Zodiac returned and continued...)
"...Well, my children, I would not let this evening close without a word of encouragement and hope for the future. I want you to do your best to extend the vision of the physical mind, so that you, even the physical you, can look beyond today and catch a glint of all the golden happiness which lies, not only stored, but evermore added to, ready for you in the days to come.
"There is happiness for all, but, my little ones, you limit the time yourselves as to making it your own possession; and there are other limits as well.
"The highest happiness demands the biggest price. The happiness which is of the earth, it can be purchased, but once the exchange has been made, lo, within your hands you find only dead blossoms remain.
"The happiness which is half of the physical world and half of the ways of God, that has its purchase price in the sorrows of daily life; but, my little ones, that is not good enough for you. The very best is only fit for the children of the Light. Therefore, if perhaps much is exacted from you, comfort yourselves with the thought that it is but insuring that happiness which will last...
"The long view of the Spirit brings, in the present, understanding, and it holds out for the future both the heart's and the spirit's desire, for in desiring the best these two are one.
"Children, I bless you through the grace of the Father with the power to forget; and, again, I bless you with the gift of remembering the promises of God; and, again, I bless you with the gift of the Holy Spirit which will bring to you, and to those in your vibrations, that measure of revelation which will still your aching hearts and give understanding to the physical mind...
"Keep true to your nobler selves and you shall find how true is God to all that which He has laid down for bestowal on His little children...
"Goodnight, my little ones - be happy in your confidence in the Father."
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